Brandon Jennings Ushers in a New Era

Here's a list of players for you: Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry, Earl Monroe, Elgin Baylor, and Brandon Jennings.

That's the entire list of NBA rookies to ever score 55 or more points in a game.

If you didn't know Brandon Jennings story before Saturday, you certainly know it now. Jennings was the high school player that last season decided to forego playing college basketball to play professionally in Italy. Depending on who you ask, it was either a slap in the face to the system that now requires players to be 19-years-old and a year removed from high school to enter the NBA draft, or a backup plan because Jennings' test scores were not good enough to get him into any major colleges.

Either way, six months ago, if you would have called Jennings' one and only season as a professional a success, many people would have laughed at you.

After being ranked as the number one high school prospect by ESPN.com and Scouts.com, and the number four high school player in the nation by Rivals.com, Jennings struggled in Italy, averaging only 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game for Lottomatica Roma.

After Lottomatica Roma qualified for Euroleague play (it's a little different overseas, so I'll let the always reliable Wikipedia explain what that means), Jennings averaged 7.6 points per game, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 16 games.

After a less than impressive showing in Italy, Jennings saw his draft stock plummet. He went from being a projected top-five pick to not even showing up for the NBA draft and sitting in the green room for fear of embarrassment of having to wait around, maybe even until the second round according to some insiders.

In less than a year, Brandon Jennings went from hoops phenom to the butt of jokes, all because he decided to play professionally overseas instead of do what everyone else does and play one year of college ball. I even poked fun at him on Twitter on draft day after reading that he wasn't going to be in the green room.

You know who's laughing now? Brandon Jennings.

That's because, in just his seventh career NBA game Saturday night, Jennings' 55 points nearly broke the 39-year-old record for points scored by a rookie, set by Wilt Chamberlain in February of 1960. Jennings missed the record by three points, having to settle for the fifth highest scoring game ever recorded by a rookie.

Now, just three weeks into the NBA season, Jennings, the 10th overall selection by the Milwaukee Bucks, is the one and only candidate for Rookie of the Year.

He missed a triple-double by just one rebound and one assist in his first-ever NBA game. He backed that up with 24- and 25-point efforts in his second and third NBA games, respectively.

On Wednesday, he dropped for 32 points and 9 assists in a win against a very solid Denver Nuggets team.

On Saturday, he delivered what Hall of Famer Don Nelson called "probably the best rookie performance I've ever witnessed in 30-some years coaching."

For the season, Jennings is averaging 25.6 points per game (good for eighth-best in the NBA), 5.1 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game.

All this and he never went through the charade of majoring in "general studies" for a year in college.

You know who else is laughing right now? Sonny Vaccaro.

Vaccaro is the 69-year-old "sports marketing executive" who has an ax to grind with the NCAA for some reason. He's the guy that signed Michael Jordan to Nike. He's the guy that signed Kobe Bryant to Adidas. He's the guy the co-founded the first-ever high school basketball all-star game.

He's also the man responsible for taking Brandon Jennings overseas.

Vaccaro served as an advisor and mentor to Jennings when he decided to try and skip college and play overseas. He essentially landed Jennings his $1.4 million contract with Lottomatica Roma and helped broker the $2 million deal Jennings signed with Under Armour shortly after.

Jennings isn't Vaccaro's only protégé. Earlier this summer, Vaccaro assisted Jeremy Tyler in signing a contract with Maccabi Haifa.

Is the name "Jeremy Tyler" not ringing a bell? Let me help you out: he's the 6'11" prep star that is skipping his senior year of high school to play basketball overseas in an effort to become a more polished NBA prospect.

It might sound crazy, but why not? Tyler averaged over 28 points per game as a junior. There was no competition at the high school level, and he's clearly got the potential to be an NBA player someday.

Why does he need another year of high school basketball before he becomes a professional? Tennis players and golfers turn pro as early as 13- or 14-years-old. Surely, a 17-year-old basketball player should have the same options in front of him, right?

Thanks to in large part to Vaccaro, this particular 17-year-old now does.

So does this make Brandon Jennings a trail blazer or someone who ran out of options?

The answer is probably a little of both. The fact is, it looks like college would have been Jennings' first choice. It was the test scores, not the promise of big money and professional experience, that had Jennings packing for Italy.

But that doesn't change the end result. The bottom line is that prep stars all over the country with aspirations of being in the NBA one day are watching Brandon Jennings succeed right now and thinking, "why not me?"

Just last week, Latavious Williams became the first player to ever bypass college and enter the NBDL draft. He was selected in the first round by the Tulsa 66ers. As of last season, one out of every four NBA players had D-League experience.

What is the better option for a person that wants to become a professional basketball player: getting paid to play in a league that is in existence solely to help people become NBA players, or playing for a school for free that just wants to exploit its basketball program for more money, with your basketball playing future serving as an unimportant afterthought?

To me, I can't believe it took someone this long to go the D-League route.

Sure, Brandon Jennings going overseas wasn't exactly the most conventional path. His draft stock took a hit because of it. But that doesn't mean it wasn't the right move.

Think back to the mid-'90s, back when the Kevin Garnett's and Kobe Bryant's of the world were making the leap from high school to the NBA. You think that their draft stocks didn't suffer because they didn't bother to go through the motions of a year of college?

We're talking about two of the greatest players to ever play the game, and they were drafted fifth and 13th, respectively. You think it was their ability or the fact that they came from unfamiliar territory that caused them not to be number one picks?

Brandon Jennings, whether it was his intentions or not, has paved the way for a generation of players to explore options other the college to get to the NBA, much like Garnett and Kobe in the '90s.

Just like K.G. and Kobe opened the door for guys like LeBron James and Dwight Howard to be selected first overall, Brandon Jennings has opened the door for someone.

It might not be Jeremy Tyler or Latavious Williams, but someday soon there will be someone who skips college and plays a year overseas or in the D-League that gets drafted first overall.

And when they do, they'll be able to point to Brandon Jennings and say, "that's the reason I didn't need to go to college."

The best part about it is that they'll be able to say if from the comfort of the NBA Draft Green Room, because teams are no longer going to be scared of a player who doesn't toil away in college for a year.

All thanks to Brandon Jennings.

Scott Shepherd writes about the NBA every Monday for Sports Central. His blog, Diary of an NBA Junkie, is updated several times a week.